THE TEMPLE OF FAME;

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11 In which were more images

Of gold ftondinge in fundrie ftages,

Setle in more riche tabernacles,

And with perre more pinnacles,

And more cutious pourtraiturisAnd quaint manir of figurisOf golde work than I fawe evir,”c * On the walls of this temple were engraved (lories from Virgil’iEneid a^d Ovid ’s cpiflle*.

“ Leaving this temple, he fees an eagle with golden wings foariognear the fun»

*< —— Fade By the fonne on hie .

As kennyng myght I with mine eie,

Metbought 1 fawe an egie fere ;

But that it fetnid mochil more,

Then I had any egle feen.

It was of gold, and flione fo bright,

That nevir man fawe fuche a fight,” etc.

“ The eagle dcfccods, ftizss the poet id bis talons, and, mount-ing again, conveys him to the honfc of Fame; which is (iiuated*like that of Ovid , between earth and fva. fn their paffage t;.hirer,they fly above the (tars; which our author leaves .with clouds,tempefts; hail and fnow, far beneath him. This aerial journey ispartly copied from Ovid ’s Phaeton in the chariot of the fun. Butthe poet apoiogifes for this extravagant fidiori, and explains hismeaning, by alledging the authority of Boethius ; who fays, thatcontemplation may loar on the wings of phiTofophy above everyelement. He likewife recolle&s, in the raidft of his courfe, thedefeription of the heavens given by Marcianus Capclla, in hisBook De Nuptiis Philologias ct Mercurii, and Alarms iu his Anti-claudian. At his arrival in the confines ofithe houfe of Fame, heb alarmed with confufed murmurs ifl’uing from thence, like diflintthunders or billows. This circumflance isalfo borrowed from Ovid’tfTemple. He is left by the eagle near the houfe, which is built ofmaterials bright as poliflied glafs, and Hands on a rock of ice of ex-ceflive height, and aim oft inacceffible. All the Southern fide of thisrock was covered with engravings of the names of famous roeu^which were perpetually melting away by the heat of the fun. TheNorthern fide of the rock was alike covered with name*; but beinghere (haded from the warmth of the fun, the charaders remainedunmelted and uncifaccd. The ftrudure of the houfe is thus imagined ;

-“ Methoughtin by Saind Giic,